One of my weak spots as a fan of this show is pony politics. Good or bad, if a My Little Pony episode revolves around the main characters struggling to adjust to new responsibilities - especially if said responsibilities are related to diplomacy - then I'm bound to get some enjoyment out of it. "Triple Threat" is a little too predictable to be on par with "Party Pooped," my favourite episode of this type, but it delivers the sympathetic internal conflict which always drives these episodes, and has a lot of charming and funny moments to boot, as well as a great moral.

If anything brings "Triple Threat" down, it's the story itself, which is very predictable and is often expected to drive scenes with few jokes to liven things up. "Triple Threat" admirably gives its story more time to breathe than many episodes this season, but it still refuses to add any twists or even unexpected quirks, and while there's enough fun moments to carry the rote narrative, it's simply too familiar to sustain attention through the entire 22 minutes.

Still, this is a major improvement over the likes of "Forever Filly."

When Spike accidentally invites both Ember and Thorax to Ponyville on the same day, he fears that if they meet, their contrasting personalities might lead to a breakdown in relations between the two species. In order to prevent this, he enlists Twilight and Starlight to keep the two leaders apart, and in the meantime, the map calls on him to solve a friendship problem, adding even more stress to his plate.

"Triple Threat" is not very polished story-wise. Spike appears to have invited Ember and Thorax on the same day entirely due to disorganization and absent-mindedness, which is rather unlike him, and nobody ever suggests that they allow the two to meet and see what happens. Spike knows both personalities enough that his belief that they could start a war is about as founded as Starlight's fear of Nightmare Moon returning in "A Royal Problem," and there's never even the slightest doubt that Ember and Thorax will get along just fine once they actually meet. Even the introduction of the Cutie Map is superfluous and predictable: it's immediately apparent that the greatest friendship problem is the one Spike has created, and his attempts to find a friendship problem amount to a couple mildly amusing sight gags at most.

But that's unsurprising at this point in season 7. Thankfully, this episode has stronger comedic chops than others like it, and every time it sinks into tedium, another solid joke pops in to make the episode entertaining again. Be it Twilight's bizarre fixation on chairs, Ember munching on the palace walls, or Thorax getting distracted by pretty objects, the episode is filled with fun moments, and even the return of the Cutie Map provides a distraction from the weak story. "Triple Threat" is hardly the show's most fun episode, and it doesn't have the rapid-fire jokes or joyous mood of something like "A Flurry of Emotions," but it's still frequently entertaining, and much of this comes down to its main characters.

On one hand, Thorax is somehow even more charming than in his previous appearances. His gentle demeanour leads to a lot of solid moments, and although none are quite as good as his arrival in Ponyville, simply getting to see him be gentle and sweet is a delight. He's just so earnest and chipper that even the moments where he's dryly reacting to the plot have a little charm to them, and his dynamic with Spike continues to be organic and pleasant. He's here to tell Spike about some Changelings who don't want to share love, and this marks the second episode in a row which set up a future episode. It's nice to see My Little Pony experimenting with serialization, but the rest of the episode treats Thorax's issue as not being respected enough by his people at large, so this moment of setup only bogs the episode down.

On the other hand, Ember is massively improved over her debut, largely because the show has placed more emphasis on her aggressive mannerisms. She does what she wants, and isn't happy when anyone gets in the way of it, and although it's not always fun to watch her be inadvertently rude due to not understanding pony customs, gags like seeing her munch on the pillars of Twilight's castle are irresistible, and it's just nice to see her made slightly more distinctive than she was in "Gauntlet of Fire." The episode even tries a little harder to separate "pony customs" from "friendship," as Ember briefly mentions at least one trick scares ponies was very popular among dragons, although it still sometimes falls into the trap of conflating the two.

The episode's best moment comes at the end, when Ember and Thorax finally meet. They misinterpret each other as attempting to threaten Spike, but as soon as they realize they're both Spike's friends, they also discover that Spike had been trying to keep them apart, which upsets them. Later, they get an adorable scene of talking to each other about their problems, and agreeing to help each other with them. Ember doesn't understand friendship, so Thorax helps her react to problems by talking instead of with displays of aggression, and Thorax is struggling with being respected. so Ember teaches him how to assert himself. In the end, they showcase these lessons by expressing their anger with Spike, and while both serve as good lessons on their own, that additional lesson of giving contrasting personalities a chance to get along is very solid as well.

And then there's Spike, who one would think is way too young to be in any sort of diplomatic role, but who is sympathetic in part because of that. As with "Party Pooped," half of the fun here is just watching Spike freaking out, although without "Party Pooped's" frantic pacing it does get old after a while. Since season 4, Spike has been fairly reliable for starring in episodes about overcoming some sort of insecurity, and while his episodes are rarely the most polished of the show, I still think that the show is at its best when it revolves around insecurity. Here, we see that Twilight's tendency to freak out over insignificant things has begun to rub off on him, and while the episode proceeds to belabour that point unecessarily, it remains sympathetic nonetheless. Spike gets some funny moments, but they're not as common as those of his guests, and at times his constant worry goes from sympathetic to just tedious.

Finally, both Twilight and Starlight are present here. Twilight's winning streak continues with a quick gag about how Spike learned his panicking from her, and the weird introduction of an obsession with chairs is a blast, but she's not given nearly as much to do in the second half of the episode. Starlight, meanwhile, is finally coming into her own as a character, but I must admit that I'm still not particularly interested in her. Her mild snarkiness feels kinda hypocritical given the absurd things she does, and since the mane six and Spike often have lines just like that, it doesn't set her apart very much either. Furthermore, because she's very similar to Twilight, the two have a somewhat uninteresting dynamic, and "Triple Threat" chooses to joke about their similarity rather than actually emphasize what differences exist in an amusing way. She does appear to have an easier time manipulating Ember and Thorax than Twilight does Thorax, and that amusingly reflects her past, but while that further sets her apart from Twilight, it doesn't really match the big gags which everyone else has, and she's not given very much to do in the back half either.

Still, "Triple Threat" has plenty of moments, and while these mostly come from Twilight, Ember, and Thorax, Spike is also sympathetic and relatively charming, and it's just interesting to see another pony episode which deals with diplomacy, even if the novelty is starting to wear off. Despite the rote plot, the episode is frequently entertaining, and the combination of a delightful climax and not one but three great morals does at least a little bit to make up for the predictability. Thorax and Ember are two of the best characters she show has introduced in recent years, and their charms would have been enough to elevate the episode, but as always, it's Spike and his relatable insecurities which give his episodes their heart. Not the best episode, but solid.

Score:
Entertainment: 7/10
Characters: 8/10
Themes: 9/10
Story: 4/10
Overall: 70/100